Jen McGovern, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at Monmouth University who is passionate about teaching and learning sociology. She specializes in understanding how sport both reflects and challenges social inequalities, such as social class, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and sexuality.

Her previous research focused on the ways that professional baseball’s institutional structures have grown and changed and how local baseball fans tell narratives about baseball players as the game has grown more global in scope. Her current research focuses on female athletes. She has written about female athlete attitudes about sexual assault and Latina women’s experiences in sport. In addition, she has worked on a  community needs assessment with various Asbury Park stakeholders. She is currently partnering with colleagues in the MU Health and Physical Education department to deliver and research after school physical education programs in Asbury Park. She is also working with students and faculty in Monmouth’s Psychology Department to conduct research on the gendering of sport toys.

Education

Ph.D., Temple University

Research Interests

Sociology of Sport. Race, Ethnicity, & Immigration. Statistical & Research Methods. Gender Studies.

Scholarly Articles

• Foster, J. & McGovern, J. (2024) The Persistence of Separate and Unequal: Debunking Myths of the Market in Bargaining for Faculty Gender Salary Equity. 15 (1) 
  Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy
• McGovern, J., Mele, M., Ragudaran, S. Community-Based Research in Practice:  Reflections on a Collaborative Approach to Teaching CBR. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. 25(4) 153-165.
• McGovern, J. (2021). Are Latinx Youth Getting in the Game?:The Effect of Gender, Class, Ethnicity, and Language on Latinx Youth Sport Participation. Latino Studies. 19 (2) 92-113.
• McGovern, J. (2020). The Intersection of Class, Culture, and Generation in Shaping Latinas’ Sport Participation.  Sociological Spectrum 41(1) 96-114.

• (2020). with Drewson, S., Hope, A. & Konopack, J. Gender Differences in a Youth Physical Activity Intervention: Physical Activity Afterschool Program (PAASP). American Journal of Health Education. 51(2), 109-119.
• (2018). “You Have to Have Money to Be Good”: How Capital Accumulation Shapes Latinas’ Pathways to College Sports. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 11(2), 149–171.
• (2017).  Strong Women Never Mumble: Female Athlete Attitudes About Sexual Consent. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
• (2017). The Boundaries of Latino Sport Leadership: How Skin Tone, Ethnicity, and Nationality Construct Baseball’s Color Line. Sociological Inquiry, 87(1)
• (2015). Does Race Belong on Sports Blogs? Solidarity and Racial Discourse in Online Baseball Fan Forums. Communication & Sport. 4(3), 331-346
• (2013). Fan perspectives on race and baseball in the city of brotherly love. The National Pastime, 116+.
• (2014). with Groff, E. R., Taylor, R. B., Elesh, D. B., McGovern, J., & Johnson, L. Permeability across a metropolitan area: conceptualizing and operationalizing a macrolevel crime pattern theory. Environment and Planning A, 46(1), 129–152.

Popular Articles

• (2019). With Esther Wellman. Women’s Soccer in the United States: A “Wealth” of Talent. https://thesocietypages.org/engagingsports/2019/06/24/womens-soccer-in-the-united-states-a-wealth-of-talent/
•  (2017). #SheBelieves, But Who is She? Race, Ethnicity, and the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team. https://thesocietypages.org/engagingsports/2017/02/28/shebelieves-but-who-is-she-race-ethnicity-and-the-u-s-womens-soccer-team/
• (2015, June 21). @ISSUE: Should U.S. be melting pot or beautiful mosaic?: Blend Cultures Into Something Stronger. Asbury Park Press, p. 2AA.
• (2016) With Patrick Murray. Consent Communication: What Does it Mean for Student Athletes? (NCAA Research and Innovations Grant). http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/McNeil_Consent%20Communication.pdf

Professional Associations

• North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS), Web & Communications Chair